Method of book-leaf-margin cutting.



PATBNTBD MAY 31, 1904; n vsn-L. JACOBS. .METHOD or BooK LEAF' MARGIN CUTTING.

APPLICATION FILED APB. 21, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented May 31, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. JACOBS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELI LILLY & COMPANY, OF INDIANA. Y

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF METHOD oF BooK-LEAF-MARGIN CUTTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,299, dated May 31, 1904.

Application fiigdAprii 21,1903. serai No. 153,699. (No model.) i

To LH `zii/2,0m, t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. JACOBS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of'Marionand State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Book-Leaf-Margin Cutting, of which the following is a speciiication. i I

The object of my said invention is to provide an inexpensive method of cutting away the margins of the leaves of books 'to Adisplay index words or characters printed on such margins-such, for example, as are' custom- .arily used in the preparation of trade-cata- 1 5 logues and price-lists. Heretofore such marginal cutting has usually been doneafter the books were bound, and this has necessitated comparatively slow and consequently expensive work, making the cost of such books too 2O high to admit of general use. By the use of my invention the cuts which are designed to .display the index words or characters are made after the sheets or signatures are folded .and before they are bound, so that there is neither the necessity of separating the sheets or leaves after they Aare assembled or of. inserting anything between them to prevent the cut from going too far.

Books ofcourse cannot be trimmed until '30 after they are bound, and they cannot be smoothly and evenly trimmed if a part of the margins are absent at the ,time of trimming. It is consequently necessary that, although the cuts designed to eventually display the index words or characters shall be made before binding, (on account of the consequent less cost than is involved when the cutting is done after binding,) all the paper shall be left in place until theboo'ks are trimmed', so that 40 the trimming-knives may operate evenly and smoothly. The index-cutters, therefore, I arrange so as to cut inside the margins of the folded sheets before they are trimmed and let the ends of the cutting-knives extend toward but not entirely to such margin, so that the paper is merely cut through and not cut away, leaving the completion of the cutting work to the trimming operation.

In carrying out my invention I have used a multiplex die adapted to operate successively upon all the several groups of leaves'or signatures by simply removing or adjusting the cutters from time to. time according to the point on the signature being loperatediupon where the word or character is located which is to be displayed.

Figures 1 and 4 of the accompanying drawings illustrate two forms of such a die. In Fig. 1 thedie comprises a base or die-head 21, containing several vindependent horseshoeshaped cutters 22, said cutters being composed of thin steel blades 4bent into U shape or horseshoe form.- In carrying out my invention-(where cutters ofxthis variety are used) the first signature or signatures of the book being made are cut thereby when the entire number of cuttersl are in place. The n extvsignatures are to be cut with the cutter at the upper end removed, the next signatures with the two upper cutters removed, the next signatures with the three Lipper cutters removed, and so on until but onecutter'remains, which cuts the nextto the last signatures of the book and displays the, lastindex word or character employed. This index word or character being upon the right-hand pages of the book-leaves, the last signatures are of course not to be cut at all. The work thus done is illustrated, respectively, by Figs. 2

, and 3 of the drawings. Fig. 2 shows one of the first signatures of the book when all the cutters are used; and Fig. 3 shows one of the next to the last signatures of the book when only one cutter remains in use, the positions of the intermediate cutters, however, being indicated by the dotted lines. I have shown in these drawings a cutter and book-signatures where eight cuts are required, and haveconsequently illustrated a die with eight cutters and indicated the resulting work in the views showing the book-signatures. vThe next step in the manufacture of books in which my method is employed is the ordinary work of binding, wherein the signatures are gathered and bound together in the ordinary or any desired way. After this is done (or after it is all done but covering, where covers not to be trimmed are employed) the books are trimmed in the ordinary manner. In trimming these books the knives intersect the cuts previously made by the index-cutters, thus freeing the parts which have been cut around by such index-cutters, so that they will easily fall out, leaving the index words or characters displayed through the openings thus left.

I have so far described this invention and its work when cutting-blades of a U-shaped or horseshoe form are employed. The invention, however, is equally capable of being carried out where the index-cutting step is performed by an index-cutting die composed of sections which cooperate together to make a single cut, the length of the cut being adjustably determined (as the work progresses) by removing sections of the die. Fig. 4 illustratesa die of this character, such die being composed of a block or die-head 31 and a cutter composed of an angular section 32 and a multiplicity of short straight sections 33, said sections being of the lengths required by the spaces between the index words or characters on the bookpage margins. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate signatures which have been cut by this variety of dies and are similar in other respects to Figs. 2 and 3. As will be observed, the transverse member of the cutting-die 32 cuts out toward the front margin of the bookpage the same distance and in the same manner as the members of the dies 21 do, while the vertical member' of said die extends down toward the lower margin of the signature. The short straight die-sections 33 (when in use) are merely continuations of the vertical member of the die 32. rIhe die 32, supplemented by the required number of die-sections 33, will produce the effect illustrated in- Fig. 5 and performs the same work, in effect, as is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the only difference being that the waste produced thereby is in a single piece instead of in several pieces after it has been released by the trimming operation. When the first signatures have been thus cut, the lower one of the die-sections 33 is removed, and the position of the die in respect to the next signatures of the book is shifted accordingly until said next signatures are cut. Another die-section 33 is then removed and the operation repeated, and so on until the die 32 alone remains and which produces the effect illustrated in Fig. 6 and forms the equivalent of the cutting illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The signatures are then gathered and bound together, after which the books are trimmed, and the portions which have theretofore been cut around by the intersecting index-cutting dies are released and fall out, as in the former case.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. That method of indexing books which consists of printing the sheets with theindex words or characters, then folding said sheets to form signatures with the index words or characters at the margin, then cutting said signatures about the place occupied by said index words or characters with dies which extend toward but do not reach the margin of the signatures, then binding the signatures together, and afterward trimming the books thus bound and releasing the parts theretofore cut by the index-cutters, substantially as set forth.

2. That method of cutting the margins of books in indexing the same, which consists in first cutting through the body of the sheet with dies which extend toward but not to two adjacent edges thereof, and afterward completing the said cutting by trimming oli said adjacent margins, substantially as set forth.

3. That method of cutting the margins of books in indexing the same, which consists in first cutting the sheets or signatures along a line with its two ends projecting toward amargin or adjacent margins but ending short thereof, and afterward completing the removal of material so defined by trin'miing olf the margin or margins toward which said ends project.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 16th day of April, A. D. 1903.

WILLIAM L. JACOBS.

Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. XVALsI-r.

[n s. Yl 

